Christmas Lights and Candles
by jellalyrancher
Summary: When the Nordics get together for some decorating, mayhem is guaranteed to ensue! But it appears they have a second agenda as well, and it involves some candles...


**I do not own Hetalia or the characters - credit goes to Hidekaz Himaruya. **

_Happy Birthday, Tino!_

* * *

><p>"Hey, pass the 'nog, would ya?"<p>

"I think you've had enough," Lukas told his boyfriend, taking Mathias's glass from him and setting it on the side table.

"Nah, I'm just getting the party - hic - started!" Mathias declared, almost crushing the string of Christmas tree lights on the floor.

"C'reful!" Berwald warned from the side of the tree, unravelling the biggest knot any of the Nordic countries had ever seen in a tangle of Christmas lights. At his feet, fluffy little Hanatamago barked at the string every time a bulb came to life, nipping at the wires.

"What?" The personification of Denmark complained, tucking his feet under his butt from his seat on the couch. "Don't even _try_ and tell me Tino doesn't have like a million different kinds of these things."

"No, Tino does not, and if you break his only string, he will happily break your neck!" The man in question called cheerfully, trotting down the hallway with a box of ornaments under one arm, the other carrying his and Berwald's son, Peter. Their second son Erland trailed behind them, a pair of virtual reality goggles set cock-eyed on fiery ginger hair. Tino beamed warmly around the room at his guests.

In one corner, Emil and Xiao had their heads bent together as they duked it out on another round of MarioKart on a pair of 3DSs; Erland was quick to join them, bouncing over and begging Emil to let him take it apart. Mr. Puffin squawked obscenities at Xiao as his owner was passed a bomb about to go off in-game.

Lukas and Mathias were arguing over the eggnog, with Lukas's eyes occasionally (often) straying to where his brother sat with Xiao, brows furrowing. The eighth time this happened, Mathias took advantage of his distraction and grabbed the festive drink from the table, drinking straight from the carton.

"Mathias! I wanted that!" Tino whined, setting down his son and the box of ornaments. Peter raced to Berwald's side to begin pestering him with questions about the tree ("Can I put the ornaments on yet? Why do the lights take so long? Where's the garland? You got all my presents off of my wish list, right?"). Berwald simply patted his head and handed him the lights, walking towards Tino. He brushed a kiss on Tino's pale hair.

"I hid a cart'n for ya in the back o' the fridge; soon 's I heard the Dane w's coming, I tucked it 'way," Berwald whispered, a grin in his voice. Tino smiled widely at his husband and patted his cheek.

"I knew there was a reason I married you," he teased, Berwald's chest shaking with light laughter. "Boys," Tino called, Erland and Peter turning to look at him, "listen to Pappa while I gather up the ice cream _one_ of you-" cue the knowing glare to Peter, "hid from me. Do not break my ornaments or Santa may decide to put coal in your stockings."

"Give it a rest, Mama, we know you're Santa already," Erland snorted, his attention shifting back to Xiao and Emil.

"Good, then you'll know I'm always watching - and don't call me Mama!" Tino turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"Sve, could you start a fire? It's freezing in here," Lukas grumbled, tucking his hands into his sweater.

"Aw, are you cold? Here, let me help!" Mathias said enthusiastically, wrapping himself around the Norwegian man and ignoring his protests.

"I'll do it, Pappa!" Erland said happily, spinning to face the fireplace. Berwald clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"Y'know Mama doesn't let ya light fires 'nymore after the laser inc'dent," Berwald reminded him, eyebrows raising over his glasses. Erland flushed sheepishly and complied, deciding to go help Tino in the kitchen.

"I know where he hid it, Mama! I'll help!"

"Traitor!" Peter yelled, making Lukas wince. Berwald glanced at Mathias.

"Ya want a fire, y'can light it yerself. 'M decorating a tree."

"Nah, I'll do it! It's really, like, not a problem," Xiao said excitedly, jumping to his feet and stacking logs. Berwald watched him nervously. When he went to light the flame, Emil leapt up.

"No, Xiao, let me do it - you're holding the lighter the wrong way, genius."

"Aw, c'mon, Icey, give me a chance here!" Xiao grouched, sitting back on his heels.

"All that advanced technology and you can't light a fire," Emil groaned, bumping his head on the mantle as the fireplace roared to life in colors of scarlet.

"Well, like, I've always used some sort of electric fireplace. Kiku and Yau never let me work the _real_ ones," Xiao replied with an eye roll. Tino reappeared with a glass of eggnog and a handful of bowls, Erland following with an armful of ice cream.

"That's just what we need to warm up - ice cream," Lukas grumbled sarcastically.

"If you don't like it, go celebrate with someone else," came Tino's quick response, sipping delicately from his eggnog. "Hana ate the cookies."

"Mum!" Peter wailed suddenly, head deep in the box of ornaments, "I can't find my favorite!" He had abandoned his attempt to untangle the lights when Berwald had come back over - they were being strung across the tree even as Tino knelt beside the small nation.

"Which one, Peter?"

"The one with my flag on it! I can't find it!"

"Did you find mine?" Erland interrupted, looking worried. Behind them, Mathias rolled his eyes.

"Which one, that green one or that green one? Nice design, Captain Creative."

"Hey!" Tino snarled, looking vicious, "the only person allowed to pick on my boys is me."

Eyes wide and a little frightened, Mathias sat back and tucked himself against Lukas, who shook his head.

"'ve got it, Erl'nd," Berwald told him from behind the tree, searching for the wall outlet. The nation of Ladonia sighed, relieved.

"Peter, go call your older brother and see if he's got it, okay?" Tino told the blonde boy beside him. Peter sulked.

"He's not home, he's with Alfred," he mumbled, digging faster through the box. "Oh, there it is! Why was it at the bottom?"

"Because it was the first one off the tree last year," Erland taunted, taking off out of the room and down the hall. Peter raced after him, shouting unintelligibly. The Nordics-and Hong Kong-heard the back door slam.

Berwald was frowning at the tree, confused as to why the lights weren't coming on. They'd worked fine before, after all. He sighed - he'd fix it tomorrow. The boys wanted to decorate.

Even though the Dane irritated him and Norge was a downer and Emil was just plain grouchy, they had been a tremendous help in decorating the house. Four stockings - and an extra small one, for Hanatamago - hung on the mantle of the fireplace, garland sparkling behind it. Fluffy pillows with snowmen and reindeer graced the couches, with red and green throw blankets draped on the backs. Ribbons had been hung from the ends of every curtain rod, and a wreath was settled on the front and the back of the front door. Earlier, Lukas and Emil had wrapped the staircase rail in a wreath twined with lights and Mathias and Xiao helped Peter and Erland hang snowflakes from the ceiling of every room with fishing line. Unbeknownst to Tino, there was a large chocolate birthday cake tucked away in the garage fridge for when the group was done - the real reason the other countries had come over. The house was warm and ready for the holidays _and_ Tino's birthday - except for the tree, that Berwald himself had cut down and Tino had carried.

"Fetch the boys, would you, Icey? It looks like the lights aren't working, but we can still hang the garland and the ornaments while Ber tinkers away," Tino explained, smiling sweetly at Emil, who trudged down the hall yelling "Your mother wants you!"

"Emil!" Tino cried. "Don't _encourage_ that!"

"Let th'm call ya what they w'nt," Berwald murmured, rising and moving towards Tino to wrap his arms around the shorter man's waist and nudge his arms to wrap around Berwald's neck. The Finnish nation melted against him, humming in delight.

"Only if I get a reward," he purred, fingers stroking the soft locks at the nape of Berwald's neck. The taller man bent to kiss his small 'wife' obligingly, a smile curving Tino's lips against his own. Xiao made whipping noises from the corner.

"Alright, that's enough - come on, there are kids in the room!" Mathias declared, waving his hands at Erland, Peter, and Emil as they returned once Berwald and Tino separated.

"Don't call me a kid," Emil complained, Mr. Puffin resting comfortably on his shoulder. Erland pretended to puke and Peter made a face behind Emil's back. Tino smirked and pressed another chaste kiss to Berwald's lips before swatting Mathias's hand from the eggnog and taking another gulp.

"Slow down there, Fin - remember what happened last Christmas?" Lukas reminded him with a smirk. Mathias burst out laughing.

"Oh, wow, that was the funniest thing that's ever happened to me! Watching that little white ass run through the snow, nothing but a Santa hat-"

"That's enough!" Tino said, flushing. Erland giggled, but was cut off with a sharp look from the Finn.

"Let's hang the orn'ments, boys," Berwald broke the silence by gesturing his sons over as he began to twine garland around the tree. Hanatamago jumped up at Berwald's knees, barking.

"Look, Hana!" Peter called, tinkling a jingle bell in the puppy's face, effectively distracting her. Xiao rolled a plastic ornament across the floor that Hana batted at.

"Get up, lazy butts, and let's decorate this tree!" Tino commanded, thrusting candy canes and ornaments shaped like snowflakes at the countries seated in the living room, who groaned.

"Not even my damn tree..." Emil said under his breath, and Tino elbowed him. The countries all rose and reached into the box, hanging the ornaments and chattering. Mathias accidentally speared his finger on a hook three times, getting backhanded on the head by both Berwald and Lukas for "swearing 'n front o' the childr'n" and "being an idiot".

Xiao talked nonstop, and was constantly distracted by a _ping_ that rang from his DS every five or so minutes until Emil told him to turn it off or he'd throw it in the fire. Xiao pouted at him, whining "Iceyyy~" and nuzzling his head against the platinum-blonde's shoulder - and getting pecked by Mr. Puffin.

Erland was quickly sidetracked from the tree when he began throwing questions at Lukas about the cross-pin in his hair and begging to have a look at it and see how to place calls and access wireless networks; his eyes were flickering between the cross and the router in the office. Lukas stuffed a candy cane in Erland's mouth.

"Uncle Mat, hand me the one shaped like Hana!" Peter yelled, his face peering around the tree. Mathias tossed him the ornament, which slipped from Peter's fingers and had to be caught by Berwald.

"N'ce toss, Dane."

Emil found the sprig of mistletoe and chucked it, only to have Mathias catch it and hold it over Lukas's head to kiss him soundly. Lukas slapped a hand against Mathias's chest in shock, and the man leaned back, laughing. The Norwegian man's cheeks burned a ruddy red.

Tino took another sip of eggnog and turned on the radio on the mantle, "Silver Bells" beginning with a crackle. He reached a small hand to Berwald, who took it, and the pair swayed slowly to the music on the radio. Berwald made a miniscule motion to Lukas, who backed out of the room and through the kitchen, vanishing into the garage for the cake. Berwald and Tino continued dancing slowly until their sons interrupted, grinning unashamedly. Erland was swept into Tino's arms, and they spun around in dizzying circles. Berwald simply picked up Peter, who was much smaller than the Swedish man, and slung him on his back. The boys were laughing along with their parents when Lukas re entered with a cake covered in blue frosting, _Happy Birthday Tino!_ written across it in white icing. The candles were already burning.

"Oh!" Tino squealed, clapping his hands over his mouth after he'd released Erland, whose goggles had fallen off. Lukas set the cake on the table with the eggnog and Berwald put an arm over Tino's shoulders.

"Happy b'rthday, m' wife," he murmured, and Erland and Peter grasped Tino's hands.

"Happy Birthday, Mama!" They chorused, and Tino even forgot to tell them off for calling him "Mama".

"Yeah, happy birthday, Finny," Mathias said with a wide grin, bouncing a fist off of Tino's bicep. The short man still hadn't moved, and was looking wide-eyed at the wax dribbling onto the frosting.

"Well, let's cut it - I don't, like, want any wax on my cake, man," Xiao cheered, and Emil quickly took the knife away from him, handing it to Lukas.

"Make a wish, Tino," Lukas told him with a small smile, and Tino snapped out of his shock long enough to blow the candles out, the room exploding with applause.

Peter suddenly jumped and tugged on his father's arm. "Pappa, look at the tree! The lights finally came on!"

The group turned to look, open-mouthed, at the tree, flickering with different colored lights that reminded Tino of iridescent fireflies.

"You guys, you didn't have to do all this for me!" He said happily, turning back and forth from the tree to the cake.

"'Course we did, it's your birthday!" Mathias reminded him. "Now I want some cake, hurry and cut it!" Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "And I don't mean farts, either, micro nations, so don't get any funny ideas."

"Shut it, Mathias, he's finally cutting the cake," Emil told him.

A piece of cake was dealt out to each person in the room - Peter refused a fork and dug in with his fingers, earning a glare from Berwald.

"We got you presents, too," Lukas said quietly, pointing to the pile of unwrapped, unmarked boxes in the corner.

"That's why you wouldn't let me open them earlier, huh?"

"Open them now!" Xiao told him, licking frosting off of his lips.

"He's getting to it - don't be gross, Xiao, use a napkin," Emil joked, passing a napkin to the brunette. Xiao smiled at him with blue-stained teeth.

Berwald passed the packages to Tino, who ripped the duct tape away on the one from Lukas and Mathias.

"What...booze!" Tino realized, his face lighting up. "Thank you!" He tucked the numerous bottles back into the box, ignoring the resigned expression on Berwald's face-the Swedish man knew he was facing many more nights of "Streaking Santa".

Tino opened the next, from Xiao and Emil. He dug through mounds of gaudy, brightly colored tissue paper to touch something soft at the bottom. He recovered a baby blue sweater with a snowflake pattern interspersed with the image of a little white dog jumping at them. Underneath the silly sweater was a fleece-lined winter hat that looked very similar to Hanatamago, right down to the fluffy white ear flaps.

"Hana, look! We're twins!" Tino called happily, tugging the hat onto his head and laughing. Mathias reached for the sweater, only to get swatted again.

"Hey, my birthday, my gifts!" Tino reminded him, pulling on the ear flaps.

"I just wanted to see how soft it was - geez, do you believe him?" He muttered the last part to Lukas, who rolled his eyes.

"Cut it out. Don't be childish in front of Little Bro."

"Stop that!" Emil yelled at his brother.

"Mum's opening his last present, shut up!" Peter yelled, a wriggling puppy captured in his arms. "It's from us!"

"I gathered, Peter," Tino said kindly, ripping the box flaps apart. Inside sat a picture of Tino's little family, all beaming at the camera. It had been attached to a humongous carved, wooden snowflake, painted white and then sprinkled with glitter. Flipping it over, Tino found hooks to hang it on the wall and a pair of handprints - one in red, one in green. Erland had signed his name under the green ones, and Peter under the other. On the front, written in clumsy cursive with puffy paint was "To Mama, with love".

Underneath were a box of nails.

Tino pursed his lips and turned back to look at where Berwald sat with Peter and Erland beside him. "It's so beautiful; thank you, boys." He opened his arms up and positively glowed with the force of his smile.

His sons raced into his embrace, Peter yelling "HE LIKED IT!" and Erland tucking his head against Tino's shoulder in embarrassment. Berwald watched with a small quirk of his lips, his aquamarine eyes finding a pair of violet.

"I said thank you boys, Ber-Ber," Tino reminded him softly, watching the softening expression on the quiet man's face. Berwald rose and crossed over to his wife, capturing a kiss once again.

"Oi, our presents were pretty great too, Finny! Where's my kiss?" Mathias called, interrupting Emil's wolf-whistle.

"You left it under the mistletoe, idiot," Lukas reminded him, albeit affectionately. Berwald and Tino leaned back, each grinning at the other as Erland squirmed free.

"None of that while I'm trying to hug you; don't be _weird_."

"'Least the lights c'me on," Berwald commenting, an arm wrapping itself around the Finnish nation in a ridiculous puppy hat. Peter's head popped up between them, smirking. Erland settled back down, long, gangly legs stretching out beside Tino's.

"Aren't you guys just a big happy family?" Lukas commented with a gleam in his eye. Mathias pinched his cheek.

"So are we, Norge," he reminded him, and turned the surly blonde's attention to Xiao kissing Emil's cheek and murmuring something in his ear.

"We're all a family, haven't you realized that yet? We all annoy the living hell out of each other, what more proof do you need?" Tino teased.

"Well, we've got Icey's test results," Lukas reminded them all, making Emil blush. The group of them burst out laughing.

"So I get to put the star on top, right?" Peter demanded, head swiveling between his parents. Erland scowled.

"Um, _no_, I do."

"All of you children can cease the fighting, because obviously I'm gonna do it!" Mathias butt in.

"Don't act like a child!"

"C'mon, Lukas, we can take the runts!"

"I want to put the star up!" Xiao shouted, jumping in on the fight.

"Oh, no way - Nordic or nothing!" Erland shot back.

"Well _I'm_ not a Nordic!" Peter cried.

"Duh, that's my point!"

As the group around them began to bicker louder and louder, Tino rested his head on Berwald's shoulder. "Happy family my ass," he whispered, making Berwald chuckle.

"They tried. Happy B'rthday, m' wife."

"Oh, don't call me that!"

* * *

><p><em>Unbeta'd, so I apologize for any mistakes :3 I really love the Nordic 5, especially Finland, and because his birthday is tomorrow (126/14, by like thirty minutes) I worked all week to make sure he had a special place in my works **and** my heart!_

_**Names**:_

_Tino - Finland_

_Berwald - Sweden_

_Mathias - Denmark_

_Lukas - Norway_

_Emil - Iceland_

_Xiao - Hong Kong_

_Peter - Sealand_

_Erland - Ladonia_


End file.
